Malachi, page 1
TRIGGER WARNING
PLEASE READ THIS SECTION!
Seeing this note means the book that you are about to read could contain triggering situations or actions. This book is subject to one or more of the triggers listed below. Please note that this a universal trigger warning page that is included in Grey Huffington books and is not specified for any paticular set of characters, book, couple, etc. This book does not contain all the warnings listed. It is simply a way to warn you that this particular book contains things/a thing that may be triggering for some. This is simply my way of recognizing the reality and life experiences of my tribe and making sure that I properly prepare you for what is to unfold within the pages of this book.
violence
sexual assualt
drug addiction
suicide
homicide
miscarriage/child loss
child abuse
emotional abuse
PAPERBACKS
HARDCOVERS
SHORT STORIES
AUDIOBOOKS
MERCH
AND MORE…
Copyright 2022 Grey Huffington
All rights reserved.
The content of this book must not be reproduced, duplicated or shared in any manner without written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations or samples in a book review, blog, podcast, or social media post without harmful or infringement intent.
In the event that this work of fiction contains similarities to real locations, people, events, or situations, it is unintentional unless otherwise expressed by the author.
instagram.com/greyhuffington
CONTENTS
Malachi
Prologue
Malachi
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Anna
Epilogue
Me + My Romance Friends
Discover More
More from Grey Huffington
To me.
-
Malachi, may you receive the love, kindness, success, and exposure you deserve. Your story is unlike anything ever written, unlike anything ever told.
You broke me nineteen times while in your universe, but you picked me up twenty times.
Thank you.
PROLOGUE
The winds whispered as rain fell onto the dry land and soil. After a full day of threats, precipitation had finally arrived. Small, slow droplets preceded larger, more soundly droplets that were accompanied by roaring thunder. Gloom covered the skies, casting a gray sheet across Berkeley, and consuming me in the process.
“Talk to me. What’s the matter?” Anna’s silken skin caressed mine as her slim fingers ran the length of my arm.
Up and then down.
Up and then down again.
Communication was solace for us both, but on days I couldn’t find the words to express my feelings, she recognized my despair in my silence. I stirred, my hand still buried deep in her straightened hair as I looked past her and into the openness of our bedroom. Together, we lie in bed, side by side, with a tiny human between us.
Anna’s cami was lowered on the right side to expose her full, milky breast that our daughter drained with each pull of her cheeks. It had been the same for the last six months, a welcomed change that nearly made my chest burst at the thought.
Family. The one we’d created was everything I needed in this world. My girls were the consolation for the long nights, early mornings, blood, sweat, and tears throughout my lifetime. The reward was incomparable.
“Hmmm.” Groaning, I responded to her question. “Tell me more about this plan.”
“What’s bothering you, baby?” Laced with sugary goodness and all the right nutrients for my soul, her voice serenaded me each time she spoke.
And, like bees to honey, I clung to it, using it as my lifeline when my thoughts pushed me toward the ledge. One smile. One heart. One love. One body. One being. Anna was my person and had been since we were kids.
“If I knew,” I sighed, leaning forward, kissing her lips, “I’d tell you, but I don’t. There’s just this feeling… it’s stifling. Crippling, even. Its heaviness is weighing me down this morning.”
“It wouldn’t have anything to do with you promising the guys you’ll get out tonight, does it?”
“No, because I didn’t promise them anything. That was all you.”
“You didn’t?” Her perfectly sculpted brows creased as she forged her confusion.
Chuckling, I reminded her, “Don’t you remember using my phone to send the text?”
With pursed lips and swollen cheeks, she asked, “What phone? What text?”
“I see. I see.”
After kissing her lips, again, I drew back to give her space. This time, my eyes landed on the peppered ceiling that Anna had hand-painted, trying to place my feelings and find the words to express them. Not just for Anna, but for me, too.
“I don’t think the two are directly related. It’s something else. I just wish I knew.”
“Me, too, so that I can make it better,” she sighed. “You feel so… disconnected.”
“Not my intentions, baby.”
“I know. I just want you to worry me with whatever’s worrying you so you don’t have to sit in this funk alone. Let’s get in and out of it together, quickly.”
“Tell me more about our summers,” I said, encouraging her to continue reciting the vision she’d been building in her head.
“And retirement.”
“And retirement.” Repeating after her, I brushed back a loose strand of hair from her face.
Anna wore the simplest, most sophisticated style I thought a woman could rock. Or, maybe it was my woman that made the style so sophisticated with minimum effort. She had that ability. Her haughtiness was unintentional but she reeked of it, though she didn’t know it. I was partially to blame for it, too. We’d been together since we were children, and from the moment I touched my first pack, I spoiled her.
Anna was a well-kept woman but her keeping didn’t start in adulthood. As teens, there wasn’t anything her heart desired that I wouldn’t make happen for her and vice versa. She deserved it. Anna was the brains behind my operation. That bit of information was kept between the two of us. Whenever a decision needed to be made, it was her I consulted and confided in. She’d never steered me wrong.
A born genius and well-calculated woman, she rarely made ill choices. With both our brains and my hustle, we made the perfect team. And though she’d never run a business herself, she made a career of consulting and helping others make wise business decisions. She made good money that piled in her accounts unless she begged me to make purchases for special holidays. Otherwise, she was only to use the account I’d created especially for her leisure.
It lasted up until her pregnancy with Aussie, which was when I demanded she rested her body and her mind, preparing for the new life we were bringing into the world, along with the ones that were sure to come behind it.
“Summers in The Meadows.”
“Ummm hmmm.” I nodded, ready to listen.
“I found a few properties out there with land that goes on forever. Acre after acre to build my garden and finally work on the strand I created with Chem’s guidance.”
“Wait, is that the reason behind all of this?” I chuckled. “That nigga got you thinking you’re a chemist, too?”
Anna was nature-focused and always had been. She was sure to only choose houses with lots of surrounding land so she could frolic and freely explore the green thumb that had taken her years to acquire. There was much trial and error before she confidently grew anything she touched. Many plants had died to make that dream of hers come true, but it was worth the expense to see her happy and coming into her true self.
“Nooooo. I’m a master grower. There’s a difference. He’s way more advanced than me, but still, it has something to do with my plans. I want to produce and sell it legally at some point. I want to dedicate it to women, those with wombs, and those doing womb-work.
“And I want to build a homeschool on the property since we’ll be so far away from anything and everyone. Aussie and her siblings won’t ever be behind. In fact, her schooling will start at two. I’ve been creating the lesson plan already, building my own curriculum. Children retain the most knowledge before they’re even five. That’s when school starts, but they’ve had years to learn more and do more… see more.”
“I agree. We started our schooling before kindergarten registration.”
“Same, Mal. God, just the thought of it all excites me.”
And the sound of her calling me by the nickname she’d given me at fourteen excited me. We’d known each other for two years and she claimed Malachi was such a mouthful. The truth was, she wanted to feel special, differentiating herself from those around me by calling me something no one else could.
I grew rigid underneath the sheet, watching her smile lift her cheeks and the corners of her gleamy eyes. The lack of sun did little to conceal the light that pierced them. My dick throbbed in my briefs, aroused by every piece and part of my wife. From her perfectly aligned teeth to her
“Me, too.”
“Just promise me you’ll make it happen.” She pouted.
“Haven’t you learned by now, Anna? Whatever your heart desires is my life’s task until it’s done and that smile I love so much is burning your cheeks.”
“I know,” she whispered, gasping for air that seemed to be sucked from between us.
“Then, don’t insult me again, and don’t worry your pretty little head. I got you; always have and always will. Now, are you ready to shower?”
“Yes.” Nodding her head, she responded softly, “You first.”
Staring at the being we were being cautious of, I quickly processed how much our lives had changed since she’d entered. Our daily showers weren’t as simple as they once were, neither were they as long and fulfilling. We spent half the time wondering if we were hearing her cries or if we were just paranoid.
Eventually, we’d always decide to put ourselves out of our misery and end showers much sooner than we liked. The phantom cries weighed on our hearts and refused to let us soak up the suds in peace. It never failed, but the attempts and the effort was where the beauty rested–aside from within Anna.
I scooted backward off the bed, carefully so I didn’t stir our sleeping princess. Her dimpled cheeks sunk in and then expanded as my weight shifted the bed. To stop the cool breeze from hitting her body where the heat from mine had been, I placed a pillow beside her. She settled again, almost immediately.
With pursed lips, I blew Anna a kiss with promises to meet her in the bathroom when she was ready. In the meantime, I would prepare our water and bathing necessities. The warmth of the bed was replaced with the brittle cold of our marbled floors. I missed them already.
Putting my big nigga draws on, I continued toward the bathroom. My size eleven and a half feet didn’t stop until I’d made it. Upon entrance, a grand idea struck me, leading me to the garden-styled tub that Anna loved dearly instead of the shower as planned.
Time stands still in here. Her voice echoed in my head. It was her common ground when convincing me to take a moment after a long day’s work. It never failed me. She never failed me. That was why I felt it necessary for us both to make time stand still for a moment.
Maybe the gloom will evaporate. The heaviness that weighed my chest down, pressuring it to the point of pain, hadn’t resolved itself, but I was hoping the bubble bath I was about to prepare would help alleviate it somewhat.
While using the tip of my finger to press the bubble bath dispenser that was installed along with the tub, I quieted my thoughts to give my heart the floor to speak. Nothing surfaced, not as I checked the water’s pressure or measured the heat spewing from the faucet. On the ledge of the tub, I sat, dumbfounded, my bottom lip tucked between my teeth in deep thought.
“Let go of your hair, Mal,” Anna commanded.
As gentle and non-threatening as she sounded, I complied. I always did. There was power in her softness. Somehow, it made me want to grant every wish she had and meet every demand she made. I couldn’t remember too many times I’d ever heard her raise her voice. She refused to settle in spaces or be around people that required elevated vocals and blood pressure.
“Come ’er.” I smiled, extending my arm and wiggling my fingers slowly in her direction.
Just as slowly, she placed one foot in front of the other, making her way to my side. Once there, she sunk her hand into my head, disrupting the twig I’d twirled in the center of my head out of sheer habit when deep in thought. Anna didn’t hate much, but she hated when I did that.
Somehow, it made her feel as if she wasn’t doing her job well enough or I didn’t feel comfortable enough confiding in her. It wasn’t the case. Whenever I found myself twirling in my hair, it was because I was searching for words, answers, or an understanding. It had little to do with her meagerness and more to do with my momentary deficiencies. They would pass. They always did.
“Kiss me,” she begged, closing her eyes and waiting for me to oblige.
I did. Deeply and lovingly, I kissed my wife’s velvety lips.
“Ummm,” she moaned in response, causing my dick to rise in my briefs.
The things she did for me mentally, physically, and emotionally, I’d never understand and would never be able to fully explain. One look. One touch. One word. One moan. All it ever took was one. Baby girl had me by the balls. I knew it. She knew it. And everyone we’d ever encountered knew it, too.
“Aren’t we excited?” Anna probed, never opening her glassy eyes as her long, lean arm reached down, assisting her fingers in their welcomed assault.
“Baby.” My elevated pitch caused me to clip my words before they could all emerge. I shoved them back down my windpipe and cleared my throat.
“Anna.” With much more confidence, I called out to her. “Undress.”
Exposing her orbs, immediately, her lips curved upward until they nearly touched her ears.
“A bath,” she finally acknowledged.
“A bath.”
“I love you.” Without haste, she recited the words I loved to hear most from her sun-cracked lips.
The days she spent bathing in the Vitamin D left lasting effects I had the pleasure of pointing out and enjoying every chance I got. She was one of the few Black women I knew who tanned religiously, hating the feeling of being too pale and not kissed by the sun, profusely. Though saddle best described her complexion, it was a cedar brown that she was most pleased with.
“To the motherfucking moon and back?”
My hands snaked around her body, clinging to the small curves she possessed. A health nut, she was as lean as she was long. Just like her arms and legs and stomach, which showed no signs of pregnancy or childbirth. Though partially due to genetics, her well-sculpted frame was credited to her strict diet and daily exercise.
A creature of habit, she needed the treadmill daily to exercise her mind more than her body. Our home gym saw her almost more than I did. Progressive movement was her therapy and she sought it often.
“To the moon and back.” She chuckled, lowly, placing a hand over her mouth.
Casually, I pulled it down to show the incredibly wide smile she always attempted to shield from the public and from me, too. I felt my cheeks peak, too. It was a Domino Effect. Her energy was contagious. Her light was infectious.
“Nah, you missed a word.”
“I’m not saying that and you know it.”
Profanity wasn’t part of her vocabulary. As often as possible, she avoided it. Not because she felt a certain way about it, but because she didn’t think it was necessary to express herself.
“I love you, too.”
“We should get in before she wakes,” Anna whispered, leaning in for another kiss.
“We should,” I agreed, pecking her lips once more before she pulled back to undress as I’d instructed.
Eyes trained on her body, I watched as she removed the cami, giving her breasts the freedom they deserved. The silk bottoms she wore paired with a top she’d soaked with milk, unintentionally, through the night, slid down effortlessly.
“Your turn.”
Standing in front of me in her final form, Anna tilted her head with spiked brows, waiting for me to fall in line. The confidence she displayed in her nakedness was appalling. She enjoyed every second of it and returned as much as possible.
If it wasn’t for her night sweats, the only thread on her body when she laid down at night would be our sheets. However, she’d learned early on that her elevated temperature in my presence wouldn’t allow her the pleasure of nude slumbers.
Alleviating the ledge of my weight, I stood, too, sliding my briefs down my legs.
